Looking at Dong E, who was crying silently and pear blossoms were raining, Gu Shengchao's heart softened at the moment.

Hurriedly helped her up and said softly: "The girl is serious, and further forward is the desert, we need to stay here for many days to replenish supplies, you tell me the address, I will visit tomorrow." ”

Dong E stopped her grief, lit a candle and borrowed pen and paper from Gu Shengchao, and after a little thought, she sketched a map between the shades of pen and ink, and Juanxiu's pen carefully marked the location of Dong Village.

"Did the girl go to school?" Gu Shengchao looked at the map and was very surprised.

Putting down the brush, Dong E replied softly: "My mother already knows something, and she sent me to the school since I was a child, and I know a little bit about calligraphy and painting." My father used to smuggle and sell leather goods between Beihu and the Dawu Dynasty, and he also knew a little about Yutu. ”

Someone sneaked up outside the window again.

After Gu Shengchao sensed it, he immediately turned sideways to block the light of the candle flame, lest the movements of his hands be reflected on the window paper and be seen by people outside.

He pointed there and motioned not to speak. The room was lit up, but on the window paper was his entire back.

Dong E understood, and in an instant, she pushed Gu Shengchao away, and the figures of the two were projected onto the window paper at the same time, and the curvy figure could be seen clearly outside the window.

The man outside had his ear to the window and eavesdropping.

Dong E's seemingly debauched movements, but Gu Shengchao secretly praised him.

Everyone knows what the black light did just now, and at this time he is well-dressed, obviously cheating.

Dong E leaned on Gu Shengchao's arms and said reluctantly: "The adult is about to go out as soon as the slave family asks, is this disgusting for the slave family's inconsiderate service?" ”

In order to let the person outside the window hear more clearly, Gu Shengchao deliberately amplified his voice and said: "Where, you go and wash off the dirt on your body first, I have a habit of practicing in the middle of the night, you wait in bed, I'll go back when I go." ”

It wasn't until the person outside slipped into the corner and hid that Gu Shengchao opened the door and walked out.

He stretched his waist first, and said to himself: "Comfortable, I didn't expect that this small county town also has such a stunner that is not inferior to the capital." ”

The corridor of the flower building is tortuous, there is a pavilion in the middle to taste tea and admire the moon, and the stairs are distributed at both ends.

Walking downstairs to the courtyard, Gu Shengchao casually practiced a set of Baguazhang, his movements were slow, but he was vigorous.

Taking the opportunity to practice his palms, he also looked at the flower building and was familiar with the layout.

After days of hurrying, his body stiffened, and he practiced some basic skills, and his muscles and bones were stretched before returning to the upstairs room.

The peeping man did not dare to show up, because the highest floor was the third floor, and there was no shelter in the corridor. When Gu Shengchao entered the house, he quickly got up and slipped down.

Early the next morning, everyone got up, washed up, and ate, and the girls went downstairs together, and someone arranged for them to leave in a car.

Someone came to report to the chief envoy Lu Shouwen, saying that the county order had arranged a vehicle and asked the delegation to go to the coal mine with him for inspection.

Lu Shouwen was overjoyed and asked the county magistrate to wait, and he arranged for people to go.

Before leaving, Gu Shengchao pretended to have a stomach upset.

He has a lot of internal strength, and it is easy to force out sweat with hard work.

Lu Shouwen was also worried when he looked at him sweating profusely, so he asked him to calm down and cultivate, so he led a team and the county order to the coal mine to find out.

Since he dared to blatantly let the senior officials of the capital go to the scene to inspect, the county order must have done something behind his back, and it would be in vain to go. Instead of that, do something meaningful.

When everyone was gone, Gu Shengchao also rode a fast horse to Dong Village to inquire about the news.

The map is clearly marked, and it was almost noon when I came to the village where Dong E's family was located.

From a distance, the village is surrounded by greenery, creating a peaceful and quiet idyllic scenery. When I came closer, I found that the village was ruined, and it had become barren and empty.

Faintly hearing the sound of people crying, Gu Shengchao dismounted, looking for the sound and looking for it on foot.

In a dilapidated courtyard, a mourning shed was simply erected, and five middle-aged women wearing filial piety clothes knelt in front of several wooden planks and kowtowed.

The wooden planks were extremely ordinary, like the surface of a stool was removed and stood there, and there was no writing on it.

Gu Shengchao only looked ahead, and stepped on a dead branch with a "click", revealing his whereabouts.

"I'm fighting with you."

A woman saw the official uniform on Gu Shengchao's body, touched a sharp knife from the ground, screamed, rushed over, and stabbed him in the lower abdomen.

Facing the weak woman, Gu Shengchao turned around and grabbed her hand accurately: "Auntie, slow down, I'm not a villain." ”

The woman struggled to move, and raised her foot to kick him.

In desperation, Gu Shengchao had no choice but to let go of his hand and step aside.

Due to resistance, the woman with the cloak had a hideous expression, brandished a sharp knife and shouted: "It is you who have taken my husband and children and buried them alive in the mine and cannot come up." ”

Another woman saw Gu Sheng's super elegant appearance, stopped in the middle and said, "What is this lord doing here?" ”

"I'm here looking for an old friend."

The barren and populated village, the women who worship, make people feel slightly cool in it, and Gu Shengchao is afraid that saying the wrong thing will cause the other party to misunderstand.

"What's his name?"

"A woman named Dong E."

"Alas!"

The woman next to her sighed: "You go, her family is all dead, and there is no one else." ”

Gu Shengchao was stunned: "No, I heard that she still has parents and brothers. ”

With a wry smile, the woman next to him looked him up and down, shook her head and said, "You are a foreigner, I advise you to get out of here quickly, otherwise they will be caught in the coal mine and see the king of Hades sooner or later." ”

"Auntie, can you give me a good explanation?" Gu Shengchao took out a few taels of silver and gave it to the woman.

In this small border town, the county order does not seem to be ordinary black, and there is no shortage of corruption and perversion of the law, and he wants to know more.

Looking at the white silver, the woman gave it back to Gu Shengchao: "We don't need this thing anymore, you can keep it." ”

"Why?" He looked confused.

The woman with the sharp knife in her hand casually threw away the sharp weapon in her hand, panting and sitting next to Gu Shengchao: "Is there anything to eat, we haven't eaten for two days, and we are about to starve to death." ”

"Yes."

The horses brought dry food with them, and Gu Shengchao ran back and brought all the cakes, wine, meat, and water bladders, and put them on the ground for them to choose at will.

The five people were also unceremonious, sitting around eating and drinking, and those who didn't know thought they were tired of playing and were on a picnic.

Gu Shengchao sat beside them and asked carefully, "Aunts, can you tell us about the situation of Dong E's family now?" ”

"Yes."

One of them drank wine and said: "Our village originally made a living by growing grain and smuggling Beihu's leather goods, but now after the county order came, there was a coal mine, but there were landslides from time to time, and the people who worked in it died for a lifetime. ”

"One year there was a big drought and there was no harvest, so the county magistrate lent us money to temporarily avoid the famine. I didn't know that if we fell into his trap, we couldn't pay the money, so we forcibly took all the men to work in the coal mines, and the young and beautiful girls were sent to the Cuihong Mansion in the city to do the leather and meat business. ”

"Where can the old, weak, sick and disabled still be able to cultivate the land, there is no way, those who flee and die, and in the end only a few of our sisters are left to barely survive, hoping that the famine will be returned as soon as possible, and the men will come back and be reunited with their families."

"They haven't heard from them for a long time, Dong E's mother and I begged all the way to the coal mine to find out the news, who knew that the coal mine collapsed, they had already died half a year ago, and all the men in the village did not escape and were buried inside."

"Dong E's mother hanged herself on the way back, and I rushed back to inform the remaining old sisters."

Another person tore off the piece of meat and said with a smile: "We are illiterate, and we can't erect a tombstone for the people in the village, so we just found a wooden board instead." ”

"I thought I would die tonight, but you just sent wine and meat, and it was worth it to be full of dead ghosts."

The rest laughed and laughed, and they all started crying again.

They didn't care, and swallowed with tears in their eyes.

The desolate atmosphere was very miserable, and Gu Shengchao couldn't help but shed tears. He couldn't take it anymore, so he ran out and rode away.

On the way back, he was at a loss.

He couldn't bear to see the once lively village turn into a barren land, but what could he do?

It's so far away from the Valley of the Four Kings that you can't send them there.

They are all women who have experienced the destruction of their families, how can they survive in this cannibalistic environment?

Gu Shengchao couldn't figure it out even if he wanted to break his head, so he returned to the county seat in a daze and came to the flower building where he stayed.

Lu Shouwen and the others came back earlier, and when they saw Gu Shengchao, they said strangely: "Aren't you having a stomach, and asked the people in Hualou that you went out early in the morning, why did you come back at this time?" ”

"I can't sit still, so instead of being idle, I walked around the city, and now it's much better." Gu Shengchao patted his lower abdomen, indicating that there was no problem.

"You come to me." Lu Shouwen beckoned and motioned to his house.

Looking at his mysterious eyes, Gu Shengchao was puzzled, and the two entered the house, and Lu Shouwen closed the door.

"Found something?" Gu Shengchao asked quietly, thinking that they had discovered some clues on this trip.

Shaking his head slightly, Lu Shouwen sighed: "This county order is not ordinary, when we arrived today, the coal mine was far from the scene we saw that day, a desolate and dilapidated scene, as if it had been abandoned for a long time. ”

Such a result was already expected by Gu Shengchao, and he comforted: "The focus of our trip is in Beihu, and we will collect evidence well when we come back, and it is not difficult to rectify a small county order." ”

"Maybe not necessarily." Lu Shouwen's expression was heavy.

"Why?" Gu Shengchao knew that he was cautious and would not judge others easily.

Pointing to the table, Lu Shouwen frowned and said, "Just look at that thing." ”

There was only an ordinary cowhide bag on the table, which was tightly sealed with a red rope.

Gu Shengchao called his pocket, revealing a golden glow inside, all of which were golden beans full of color.

Weigh it up, no less than a hundred taels.

Lu Shouwen snorted coldly and said: "One hundred thousand dollars in money can be channeled, and one hundred thousand copper plates can make people have the means to reach the sky, and today's shot is a hundred taels of gold, how many high-ranking officials have fallen, and it is not so simple to take down this person." ”

Officials protect each other, in the final analysis, what they protect is the relationship and interests, this county order is generous, and the officials who are bribed must be considerable, and if you want to take him down, you really have to use some means.